Another Trip to the ER

Saturday evening brought yet another trip to the E.R. for our family. This time, AJ was the one who suffered an injury worthy of the trip.

The kids were swimming with their father, and AJ decided to jump off of the diving board. The problem is that he wanted to jump backwards, and he didn't jump far enough back. His chin hit the diving board, causing his head to snap back and his chin to split open. I missed the drama. All I saw was Timo trying to get AJ out of the pool while screaming for my attention (I was inside). When I got outside, AJ was crying, his hand over his chin and mouth, and blood was dripping from what I thought was an unknown source at the time. When I finally saw his chin, I knew that we were going to the ER.

I was the parent who was dressed, and I panicked, running to get my shoes on. Then I realized we needed to get AJ dressed. Timo had him halfway dressed by the time I came with clean clothes for him to don. We had no gauze, so I had just put a band-aid on his chin in an effort to contain the blood. It was better than nothing.

AJ was a good sport. He stopped crying, and the drive to the ER was uneventful. We were able to check in quickly, and I was pleased that the wait time was not incredibly long.



AJ in the waiting room. He tried to smile, but he said his chin hurt too much to smile big.

  Once we were led to a room, a nurse came and cleaned up his chin. This is what it looked like.


AJ's split chin



Once the doctor saw him, the nurse came and put a local anesthetic on his chin via a cotton ball, which she bandaged to his head so I didn't have to hold it there the whole time.

AJ with the local anesthetic

Shortly thereafter, she arrived with a small bear sporting a similar bandage.

 After twenty minutes, she checked his chin, then she put the cotton on for a little longer before the doctor came in and glued it shut.



All glued shut

As for me, I was happy that he didn't have to be stitched up. Glue is much less traumatic and time-consuming. I am sure AJ was just as happy to see no needles. The whole trip took about two hours, which I think is fantastic. By the way, he named his bear "Computer."